Intensive + Extensive Listening The Recipe for Language Success

Intensive + Extensive Listening The Recipe for Language Success Intensive + Extensive Listening: The Recipe for Language Success Delivery!  Heres that large slice of  listening practice you ordered.I dont need any more listening practice. My listening skills are perfect.Said no language student ever.And theres a good reason for that.Listening skills  are incredibly important, and youll need to  build a foreign language audio library  if you want to reach full fluency.But did you know that there are also  different types of listening practice that focus on different skills?These types of listening are called intensive listening and extensive listening. To get the maximum benefit, language students need to do both types of listening. Think of these two strategies like the crust of a pizza plus all the other ingredients that go on top of it. Without one or the other, you dont have a pizza.So what are these types of listening? How can you put them in your language learning pizza? How can you pair intensive and extensive listening? Whats the meaning of life?Most of these questions will soon be answered. Except for that last one, but heres a hint: Its also pizza. Intensive + Extensive Listening: The Recipe for Language SuccessWhats Intensive Listening?Intensive listening focuses primarily on brief listening exercises. While they usually only take a few minutes, they offer focused, intense practice.This is because intensive listening focuses mostly on form. When you do intensive listening practice, youre paying most attention to pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary, rather than overall meaning.By focusing on these aspects, intensive listening practice helps students build a groundwork for language acquisition. Since youre understanding basic component parts of the language, you can build on these skills over time.Because it serves to help listeners understand key foundational aspects of language, intensive listening is particularly important for beginning and intermediate students.Suggestions for Intensive Listening PracticeUse learning websites with audio components.  There are many useful websites  you can use to do intensive listening practice since so many feature brief audio activities.  Duolingo  is one such website that uses a mix of audio and written activities. The audio is helpful intensive listening practice because the activities force you to focus on grammar and vocabulary that youve just learned.Use FluentU  to enhance the experience with video.  FluentU is a fun, flexible and complete option that you can use for intensive (and extensive, as well see later) listening practice. FluentU uses authentic, real-world videos like music videos, movie trailers, news and more. Each video is captioned and the captions are annotated, giving you easy access to any words definition, example sentences and an associated image. If you want to see how a word is used in other videos, you can simply click that word. Since FluentU provides you with information on vocabulary and form, its excellent for intensive listening practice.Plus, FluentU also offers an innovative learn mode that provides additional intensive listening practice. Learn mode combines videos, example sentences and pictures into exercises and flashcards that help you focus on a words meaning and usage.Use  FluentU online  or  download the FluentU app for iOS or Android devices.Use a good translation app with audio, like Google Translate (available for iOS or Android). Google Translate allows you to type in whatever phrase you want translated. However, it doesnt just translate the textâ€"it can also pronounce that translation. This makes it easy to use Google Translate for intensive listening practice with any phrase or block of text you like. You might even try pasting a chunk of text from a website youre reading.Translate a text from your native language to your target language to hear how the word order changes and what individual vocabulary words are used. Since this is an automated translation, just be aware that there may be errors or inaccuracies in overall meaning, so youll want to make verifying its correct part of your exercise. Or try translating text from your target language into English (or your native language). While listening to it in your target language, you can see what it means in your native language, making it easier to focus on individual words and to see how they correspond to your native language.  This focus on structure and vocabulary is perfect for intensive listening practice.Do guided activities that force you to focus on the basic parts of the language. Guided listening practice with questions to test your skills will help you pay more attention to the activity itself. For instance, LyricsTraining offers brief music videos with exercises. You choose a difficulty level and are asked to fill in words. This forces you to focus on structure and vocabulary.Whats Extensive Listening?Extensive listening focuses on longer activities. These may vary from something thats a few minutes long to several hours long.Rather than focusing on individ ual parts, extensive listening focuses on overall understanding. With extensive listening, you dont have to translate each word or focus on grammar rules. Instead, you simply have to try to understand the audio as a whole.Because extensive listening focuses on overall understanding, extensive listening helps students understand spoken language in real-world contexts.This is particularly important for intermediate and advanced students who are looking to transition from academic understanding of the language towards full fluency.Suggestions for Extensive Listening PracticeListen to audiobooks.  Audiobooks are excellent for extensive listening practice because youll undoubtedly need to focus on overall meaning rather than individual words. Audible provides a wide array of options in a number of different languages, including Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian and Portuguese. Theres also something for all levels of language student.Beginners might try childrens books, which will use a more limited vocabulary. Intermediate students might try short stories, which are less overwhelming than full-length books. Advanced students can dive in with whatever audiobook appeals most. For instance, a beginning German student might try the childrens book Der zweiköpfige Drache  (The Two-headed Dragon). An advanced Spanish student might try a gripping novel like La Chica del Tren  (The Girl on the Train).Watch authentic media. Watching movies, TV and other entertainment is useful for extensive listening.  If you have trouble finding authentic media in your target language, YouTube is a treasure trove of material for virtually any language you might want to learn. Youre only limited by your search terms. You can find Russian movies for kids, romantic Italian movies or virtually anything else you can think of. Like with audiobooks, its important to select media thats at an appropriate level for you, which is something that FluentU can also help with, as all videos are so rted by level and accessible to all subscribers.Media thats intended for children works well for beginners, but you might also try action-packed entertainment that leans less heavily on dialogue. Intermediate students can try comedies, which usually offer more dialogue but dont have overly intense or complex plots. Advanced students can try serious, vocabulary-intensive dramas to hone their extensive listening skills.Why You Need Both Intensive and Extensive Listening PracticeIntensive and extensive listening focus on very different skills.  While intensive listening builds general, foundational skills, extensive listening focuses on training you to apply these skills to a real-world context.Both sets of skills are essential, so its important to do both types of listening practice. You need to know grammar, vocabulary and structure, but you also need to be able to actually apply your skills.How Can You Get Both Intensive and Extensive Listening Practice?Use at least one resource app ropriate for each type of listening.  You can use both intensive listening and extensive listening resources in your regular study routine. Each type of resource will provide you with a different variety of practice, so using a resource from each category will provide well-rounded listening practice. For instance, you might use a website with audio components (terrific for intensive listening practice) and audiobooks (helpful for extensive listening practice) in order to ensure you practice both intensive and extensive listening.Listen to music. Listening to music  in your target language is fun. Its easy. And you can use it for either intensive or extensive listening, which will probably be music to your ears! If you want to use music for intensive listening, pay careful attention to the lyrics and how they work together. Note the structure of each phrase. However, you can easily switch to using music for extensive listeningâ€"simply redirect your attention to understanding the ove rall meaning of the song.Pairing intensive and extensive listening will make your language skills as round and meaningful as a perfect pizza. And One More ThingIf youre digging the concepts in this post, youll love learning with FluentU.Its a great all-in-one source for intensive listening practice that gives you material thats sure to help you with your extensive listening practice as well.With FluentU, you learn real languagesâ€"the same way that natives  speak them. FluentU has a wide variety of videos, including movie trailers, funny commercials and web series, as you can see here:FluentU App Browse Screen.FluentU has interactive captions that let you tap on any word to see an image, definition, audio and useful examples. Now native language content is within reach with interactive transcripts.Didnt catch something? Go back and listen again. Missed a word? Hover over or tap on the subtitles to instantly view definitions.FluentU Interactive Transcripts You can learn all the voc abulary in any video with FluentUs Quiz Mode. Swipe left or right to see  more examples for the word you’re learning.FluentU Has Quizzes for Every VideoAnd FluentU always keeps track of vocabulary that you’re learning. It uses that vocab to give you a 100% personalized experience by recommending videos and examples.Access the full FluentU library on your web browser or, better yet, learn on the go when you download the app at the iTunes or Google Play store!